Author: James Ellroy

ISBN:  978-0-3075-9350-4

Click Here To Purchase The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women

From the fantastic writer who brought us unforgettable books like L.A. Confidential, and The Black Dahlia, comes this extraordinary in-depth work about his own life.  As always, Mr. Ellroy is extremely explicit, writing every word of this memoir with an in-your-face passion, elegance, and anger that will literally stop readers in their tracks.

The author tells us of when he was ten years old, back in 1958, and his mother had just divorced.  She had given young James a choice at that time: live with her or go live with his father.  When James had decided that dad was the route he wanted to go, his mother had thrown one of the largest “fits” in history and wounded her little boy.  At that point in time James had wished she was dead and in a grave so deep that she would never see daylight again.  Unfortunately, (and this made my skin absolutely crawl when I thought of what we say out loud into the atmosphere that “fate” always hears), his mother was murdered three months after he’d wished her dead…her body was found dumped by the side of the road.

Most of this book is a look at why Mr. Ellroy believes that he brought down a curse upon his mother, a curse that took her away from him and made him begin his ultimate search for atonement through other women.  This is beyond a candid novel.  In fact, sometimes it felt like I was hearing a death row inmate confess his sins to his priest before he took the long walk to the end of his life.  From Ellroy’s shattered and brutal teenage years where his frustration led him to some pretty harsh relationships (with real and imaginary women); all the way through his nervous breakdown, and how the calming gift of writing both helped him extract the pain and anger from his soul, as well as thrust him into a dark place that he had to “claw” his way out of, every page was filled with emotional and mental heartbreak that will stay with this reader for quite some time.

I was also extremely pleased when a relationship was finally discovered that, perhaps, will be the one woman who the higher powers have granted to Mr. Ellroy.  Hopefully his long walk through the fire is over, and there will now be some silver lining for this soul who certainly, by now, has atoned for his ten year old words.  Bravo!

 Click Here To Purchase The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women